gz body paint or Autism Awareness Day

A fellow face painter, Daniel Lasris, also known as Katmandew, has decided to do his part for World Autism Awareness Day, which is today, April 2, 2010. The color of awareness is blue.

Therefore, Daniel has asked that we face painters paint some part of ourselves or each other blue and upload it to the Facebook Fan Page he has created. He's going to take all of the photos he receives, upload them to a Shutterfly.com share site, and then create a book from the photographs submitted. All proceeds from the sale of the book will go to Autism Speaks, and the organization plans to match the donation 100%!

I have submitted this photo, my blue faerie face.

It's the one blue face I know I have on short notice. Plus, I really kinda love it.

If you'd like to learn more about the organization or donate to Autism Speaks, please visit their website for information.

This past Saturday, I painted faces at a 5th birthday party in River Edge, NJ. It was a great party, but I didn't have time for photos, so there aren't any of those. Sorry!

It did bring up an interesting issue, though, so I thought I might want to give you some pointers for when you're having an entertainer at your party. This is relevant for hiring face painters, magicians, caricature artists, anybody...

The party was at a dojo (karate school), and was amazing fun for the kids. Don't get me wrong, it was great fun for me too! Heck, I used to take karate as a kid myself, so it was fun even to reminisce.

Thing is, the family planned for me to be there right when the party started. So I got there and set up, and was ready to go in a back room next to the party room. What I didn't know was that the parties at that school have a standard format (as well they should, but I'd never before done a karate party), during which the sensei (teacher) has the kids participate in a series of games and exercises for about 1.5 hours before going to the party room.

It included breaking boards, so it was very cool for the kids, and I can't wail 'til my nephew's old enough to have a party like that!

Thing is, for the first hour or so of the party, I was just hanging around, being entertained by the sensei and kids, but not working. It so happened that this particular family wasn't worried about it and was able to add an hour onto my time to make sure that no kids left unpainted. That's terrific, but most families simply can't afford that, and I'd hate for them to be put in the position of having to choose what to do about it. Also, it was lucky that I didn't have another obligation immediately after that party; it can happen that I have five parties in one weekend and can't really stay later at any of them.

All in all, it was great to be there; the family was very nice, the kids were wonderful, the other guests great, and I even got some ice cream cake!

This is just a reminder to the rest of you... when planning your parties, if you don't want an entertainer to have down time, go over the party schedule with your entertainer when booking so you can work out together the best possible way to handle things.

Paint Me!! Beautiful Face Painting

Creative Face Painting - Nice Face of Woman with splashes of many color painting looks as nice arts / painting

Wicked Faire Revisited

I know that I mentioned in my Wicked Faire post that I was hired last minute to do a full body painting on a cat for a fashion show that was schedule to occur at the Faire.  The request was not to make her look like a cat, but to take my cues from the mask she'd be wearing with her ears and tail.  I had just over an hour to complete the look, from shoulders to shoes.  I did it!

The model, Nicole, was great to work with, and apparently was also great at the show, which I unfortunately had to miss.

Then again, she's a dancer, so how could she not be great?  Those boots are painted on, by the way.  Nicole had on t-strap shoes, but we wanted her to look like she was wearing boots, so I painted them right up her legs.

I did my best to mimic the swirls and curls of the mask, as well as the crosshatch pattern and fading that were involved in it.

All photos in this post were taken by Chris Bossio.

gz-Body Painting or LA Fete 2010

I have had the most amazing time this past week, at the Louisiana Living Arts Festival in New Orleans, otherwise known as LA Fete.

LA Fete started in 2006, when I was offered a pot of gumbo. No, seriously. I'm a member of some international face and body art discussion groups, and I mentioned in one that my favorite food was Cajun. Susie Pierce, otherwise known as Susie the Crazy Cajun, told me that if I came down to her hometown of Baton Rouge, she'd make me a pot of gumbo. My response was, "You name the weekend, I'm there," and all of a sudden there were about 30 other artists chiming in with "me too!" We found ourselves picking St. Patrick's Day weekend of 2007, and LA Fete was born.

Once a party was planned with so many artists, it was only natural that we intend to practice our art, and that morphed into scheduled classes and workshops.

So once a year, for 4 days in March, I go down to New Orleans for LA Fete. I take classes, jam with my friends, face and body paint, and practice my henna.

We attend the New Orleans St. Paddy's Day parade, take an afternoon to face paint at the Audubon Zoo and donate the proceeds to charity, and body paint models for a show at a French Quarter club.

On Thursday night, we had a zombie crawl, and I got to become a tourist attraction in my own right. I'm waiting to see photos of myself show up on Facebook or Google. My friend Z painted me, and I painted other friends Dot Com the clown and Liz Alaniz.

This year, for the first time, my husband Eric came with me. After the Fete was over, we stayed an extra day and went to the aquarium.

We're finally home and exhausted, but it was worth it! Nowhere else do I get an experience like that, working alongside the masters and feeding off of each others' creativity. My clients will benefit from it, too. Every time I come back from LA Fete, my skills are vastly improved. I can't wait to try them out this weekend!

Norouz Bazar

I painted yesterday at the Norouz Bazar, a Persian Festival at the La Quinta Hotel in Secaucus, NJ.  This is my second year in a row at this event; I have been hired both times by Hirbod Azmi, a Financial Services Representative with Met Life to draw attention to their table.

Draw attention I did!  With a background of dance-inducing Middle Eastern music and the smells of amazing Iranian food, I painted and painted and painted.  In fact, while I was still in the midst of setting up I had two kids, a brother and sister, waiting for me!  I recognized them right away as two I'd painted last year as well.  I had hardly any time to take photos, painting nonstop for three and a half hours, but I did have to get a shot of this one, my first ever request for a full-face penguin.

Personally, I think I need to look at more penguin photos and practice this, but he was really happy!  And I do say that I love being challenged, so trying a penguin was fun.

I also stopped momentarily to take a photo of these two, a butterfly and a frog.  They were just too cute together.

It was a crazy and fun event, kids crowding around me, the hustle and bustle and movement, and the neverending line.  I felt bad having to turn people away at the end while I was packing up, but I had to get to rehearsal for my show.  We go up in May.

Yup, I'm in theater too!  If you're in or near Bergen County, you should come see us.

Yesterday, though, the show had to wait a bit.  The smells were just too good, so I stopped at a table to get some amazing chicken over rice with a grilled tomato, and some pitas with a wonderful Iranian version of baba ganoush.  Leftovers for lunch today!

A Saturday Evening Party

I was hired to paint at a birthday party this evening, only it wasn't a children's party.  Some couples were getting together for the adults' birthdays, and wanted to keep the kids entertained.  I'd painted these beautiful girls before, at the McFaul Environmental Center in Wyckoff, when I was there for Bergen County's annual Cabbage Night Festival.  Their mom showed me a photo from that day, and I recognized my work instantly.

Tonight, mom had me get there a little early so I could paint up the sisters before the others arrived.  The younger went first, a beautiful butterfly who informed me that her favorite color was purple.

Her older sister decided on a puppy.

Later in the party, though, the puppy was washed off in favor of a leopard to mach her shirt.

I also got to do a whole garden full of flowers.  The girls' teacher, who was there to watch them for a while, and another older relative got them on their fingers; the smaller girls and one mom got them on their hands.

There were also princess swirls, a vine with butterflies, and a very cute penguin to match one young man's shirt.  I love painting for such nice families!

Body Painting: Alice in Wonderland

In my last post, I showed a bit of the body painting I did on Toni at Wicked Faire. Well, yesterday I received a CD of photos from one of the professional photographers, and my biggest problem has been figuring out which ones to post because they're all so great!

All photos in this post were taken by Phillip Makselan.

Toni met me in the Green Room with her bra cups already on, and while we were waiting to be called to the stage, I laid down the blue base and the glitter spray.  The blue is Fantasy Worldwide cream; it's really easy to wear and I knew she'd be comfortable in it.  Last year, as we found out, the chocolate I used on her corset tightened as it dried and pinched her.  No issues like that with the creams!  The glitter spray is also skin-safe, made by Mehron, a theater makeup company.

This photo (above) was right after we got on stage.  You can't tell, I don't think, but I was already exhausted. I spent the entire day and night in Renaissance Faire garb, and that corset is tight!  I started "work" at noon.  Plus, I had the surprise full-body painting earlier in the day, and other paintings throughout, so by 8:15 p.m. when this photo was taken, I was ready to lie down (and the day ended at 2 a.m.!).  

Thing is, when I'm painting, I wake back up.  It's just too fun and makes me too happy.  Plus, having an audience is always a good thing.  :D

I started with the Cheshire cat's face because it was the very first element I thought of when I knew I wanted to do this design.  What's Wonderland without the cat?  Once I blocked out that shape, though, I was all over the place, painting everywhere at once.

We had a pretty good audience.  It was smallish, but constant as some people went to see other shows, and then come back, and others passing in the hall poked their heads in to see what was up and ended up either coming in to sit down, or hanging out in the doorway.

On the fly, I realized the teapot really should have red flowers, even though it wouldn't quite be a "set" with the teacup.

S'ok!  

Body painting is really physical, for both the artist and the model.  I kept asking her to turn, raise and lower her arms, and take different positions.  At the same time, I was often bending over and around her.

Or even crouching down to paint upwards.

I did mostly stick to the front first.

At this point, I was actually down on my knees to paint, just to make it easier.

For the back, I was all about the mushrooms and caterpillar.  Together with the Cheshire cat, the caterpillar is my other favorite character of Wonderland.

And what's the caterpillar without his hookah?

Once all the big colors were blocked in, I was able to add details and outlining, since I was going for a cartoonish sort of look.

To tie the back and front together, I used a vine that traveled over Toni's shoulder.  The funny thing about that vine... for Valentine's Day, my husband bought me a 2010 leatherbound edition of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Other Stories, in hot pink, to inspire me for this painting.  Around the outside of the cover is a trellis of black vines that - last minute, did inspire me.

This is the finished back.

The finished front.

And a few nifty detail shots for you.

And all done in just about an hour!

Wicked Faire 2010

Wow, what a weekend! Jeff Mach's Wicked Winter Renaissance Faire was even bigger and better this year than previously. Eric and I were kept so busy that we didn't even have time to see it all.

I was doing face and body painting, as ususal, but this time we also had our soaps for sale with us. Unfortunately, that meant that Eric didn't get to travel with me when I took my face painting cart to my various body painting assignments.

I did, of course, paint the wonderful Aiden, who oversees every aspect of vendor organization for the event, from registration to placement, to complaints.

Each year, the event has a different theme. This year's theme was Alice in Wonderland, and it was a wonderful springboard for costuming. I, of course, was happy that it led to people wanting me to assist with their outfits like this adorable Cheshire cat...

Of course, there was the typical Renaissance Faire fare of swirls and curls.

In amongst those, I was honored to paint the very talented Sarah, of musical group This Way to the Egress for the band's Saturday night show.

Of course, the male faire attendees and employees didn't let me forget them either! This handsome gentleman, Mike, from Virginia let me take advantage of his available "canvas" and really have some fun.

I think I'm ready to start painting Harleys! Ha!

And Oliver, who was working at the faire and who, together with his girlfriend Timna, makes the most amazing Steampunk accessories, had me paint him to match his very cool outfit.

Last, but definitely not least, on Sunday I painted one of my most loyal models, Patrick. What's a Renaissance faire without zombies?

Especially happy zombies.

Even better than all of this, on Saturday evening, I was given a stage an an audience, to complete a body painting demonstration on the lovely Toni. With her cat ears and tail, I had to give her a cat face to match.

But the body painting was the real star of the show. We had three people taking photographs as I painted my Alice themed design...

Because we had professional photographers taking pictures, I'm not going to post the full finished product today. I don't want to ruin the look by showing you less-than-perfect photos of the painting, which was completed, back and front, in just over an hour! As soon as I have the pro photos, I'll be sharing them.

I also had the pleasant surprise, though, of a surprise body painting assignment earlier on Saturday afternoon. There was a fashion show scheduled, and the organizer's order of body paint hadn't arrived in time. The fiance of a woman I painted last year let them know that a body painter was actually available at the faire, and I was hired to complete the "outfit."

My model was to have cat ears, a tail, and a gorgeous mask, and I was asked to paint her following the style of the mask in pink and black. It was craziness. I brought my cart to the hotel room where all of the models were getting dressed. The others were wearing beautiful Victorian and faire clothing and just the one was to be a body painted cat. People were getting dressed and corseted all around us, hair and makeup being completed, while my model and I twisted and turned around each other to get her done as quickly and beautifully as possible. The energy was incredible.

The fashion show was photographed and videorecorded professionally, and I will have both photos and video links. I'm waiting for those photos and links before I post the results here, so be sure to check back! I wasn't able to see the show, but I'm told my model was absolutely amazing on the runway.

All in all, we had an amazing time, and are completely exhausted!